Count your blessings

Counting Blessings

/ pastorpete51 / 10 Comments 
Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 
Hebrews 12:2

Some days it is hard to sing because as I look out on our audience at Life Care Center, I see people in wheelchairs, some with limbs missing, some no longer verbal, and I wonder what these words mean to them. How can they count their blessings when their life isn’t what anyone ever hoped for? And yet they sing, and they smile and some tap their feet or clap their hands because we are counting blessings together again by faith and Jesus draws near! And the Bible reminds me that Jesus counted the cross as worth it, in exchange for our salvation and for the glory that waited His return to Heaven. He didn’t count blessings with a song but with suffering and yet by faith He endured, as today’s verse tells us, by looking forward to the joys that lay ahead. I pray that no matter what you are going through this morning, that the presence of Jesus will fill your heart with grace and strength. Counting blessings is not always easy. Life is not always a song, and we do not skip down an easy road singing “Lalalala!” every day. Often the way ahead is filled with challenges, hardships and heart ache. But whatever we are experiencing this morning; Jesus has promised to never leave us. He is with us and takes our hand in His, and reminds us of the nails that pierced His, while He was counting blessings.

A Cheerful Heart

/ pastorpete51 / 6 Comments 
A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones. Proverbs 17:22 NKJV

In the last two and a half weeks, we have been through two hurricanes, an evacuation, a flood and are hosting a lady and her dog who lost their home. (Did I mention no garbage pick-up or mail!) With so much craziness it is easy to lose sight of the blessings that God has showered us with during this time. So, I thought now would be a great time to list a few of the blessings we have to be thankful for.

!) Banjo our foster dog and my new walking buddy –

2) A beautiful swan along with his buddies the ducks who greeted us at our evacuation home.

3) The lemon tree dropped enough lemons to make lemonade!

4) In the middle of all the disasters around us we never lost power!

5) I found a place to buy coffee this morning!

6) Friends, family members and neighbors we haven’t heard from in a while called to check in on us.

7) God has been with us every step of the way, kept us in health and taught us to count our blessings through everything ahead!

Counting Blessings

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. Colossians 3:15 NLT

As I look around the room I see most of my friends seated in wheelchairs, though a few of the more active senior saints are still making their way to our meeting with a walker. But in spite of all the reasons they have to complain, it is amazing how few of them do. Instead, I hear laughter, when I tell them to get their calculators out, because we are getting ready to count our blessings. There are days when we all need to think about things to be grateful for instead of those we like to gripe about. I am thankful for this simple song by Johnson Oatman, which reminds me to do exactly that! I do hope you will enjoy our little song session and that whatever life holds for you at this moment, that God will help you to count your blessings. Some of those blessings might be in the past, maybe some even today, but for the child of God, we all have some huge future blessings to thank Him for, beginning with His forgiveness of our sins and the home He has promised us in Heaven! (Next door to Jesus according to Dottie Rambo!)